Still Lost?

I was out for a bike ride down here in Miramar, FL last week and as I cruised through a business park, I saw a guy in a delivery truck clearly lost.  He was trying to find a business within a maze of buildings and offices.  Furthermore, the roads are all names similarly like Commerce Way, Commerce Parkway, Commerce Drive, etc. 

As a frequent business traveler, when I visit a new area, I am sure to bring my GPS with me.  Most people have them either as portable units, in-dash units or on smartphones.  It is cheap, accessible technology.  How can a delivery truck not have this technology?  It baffles me.

Similarly, as people navigate the complex pathways before them to get to a healthy weight or even maintain a health weight and lifestyle, you do not have to do this with blindfolds on.  Besides the obstacles out in the real world to deal with, we all have to deal with the multi-billion dollar diet and weight loss industry which is clouded with sometimes ineffective information such as fad diets and schemes that those of us that fell to their lure in the past know are not long term solutions for maintaining a healthy lifestyle.  Much like people without a GPS to find their way in a car, it baffles me that people do not use the resources available to them to navigate this route! 

Tools exist to take away that feeling of being lost or going in circles.  Know your RMR!  Go to a good calculator and figure it out!  Use tools such as a Fitbit!  Use online or smartphone tools like Calorieking and My Fitness Pal to track activity and intake. 

If you need that support from a professional to help navigate the upcoming challenges, you might want to enroll in a coaching program such as H3@Home which is one that I have a very positive experience with. 

Don't be lost.  Find a set of effective tools and navigation devices to lead you to your goal. 

You must have a good roadmap. 

You must know where you are going or like the delivery driver, you sit and look around, lost.

No Frills Fitness

Like so many Americans, I have paid health club fees pretty much all of my married years.  For most of those years, it was 100% profit for the club as we rarely if ever went.  That of course is different for me now.  I can remember being members of different YMCAs and of course being from the Minneapolis area, Lifetime Fitness was 'THE place' to be.  We have not been members of Lifetime since we moved to New Richmond, WI over 6 years ago but I know our dues were over $100 a month then.  My buddy Spiff just told me he is cancelling now as well because their dues were even higher at Lifetime.  It just is not worth it.

I think even today if I went into a Lifetime, the idea of such a big club would woo me back into thinking I wanted to be there again.  They sell it well and you look around at the amenities and cannot help but think of it as kind of a country club atmosphere.  You want to enjoy all of those amenities.  You want  to sit around after a workout and chat with friends, sipping a drink, enjoying life.  OK, a little bit over the top.  The truth is, when you go there, you change, workout and leave.  Time is short for these activities and the last thing you have time to do is lounge around just to be there.

Enter 2012.  A new breed of fitness is on the market.  No frills.  No gymnasium.  Few or no classes.  Just equipment, a few TVs, some loud music and sweat.

Since I belong to a community run and owned fitness center in  New Richmond, it obviously has no reciprocity elsewhere in the US where I travel.  The hotel I frequent in Miramar has crappy treadmills and so I needed a club down there.  I found YouFit Health Clubs.  $10 a month for single membership and for $20, you can bring a friend whenever you want and get free skin cancer, err, tanning.  I chose the $10 package.

On this season's Biggest Loser, they changed their sponsor from 24 Hour Fitness to Planet Fitness. Here also you get a customized if not completely arrogant color scheme on all of the equipment for just $10 per month.  Like YouFit, $19.99 gets you guest access, tanning and access to all locations.

Last night I saw yet another new strip mall fitness club.  This one is Blast Fitness.  Again for $10, you get access to their club.  Here for the big plan, you get group fitness, tanning and spinning classes in addition to the bring a friend deal.  They offer babysitting as well which might be in both plans.  Lastly, this club has a women's only area available.

I think all of these might be $10 for just the introductory period of one year (I know YouFit is that way) so it is best to check before you expect that rate forever.  The bottom line is that for less than I used to spend on a fast food stop, you can have a month of health club access.  Cost should no longer be an issue for anyone.  Everyone has $10.

I am a little late bringing this to the blog, but I finally finished watching The Weight of the Nation on HBO.  As my earlier post suggested, I was worried.  There were many government agencies sourced in this documentary and while I am not one to point every finger at government for the obesity issues in our country, there certainly have been instances in the past where the government’s idea of healthy meals might have contributed.  Some might say that the old food pyramid was built to support our grain industry in this country but in reality, those foods are not in our best interest from a health perspective.  I felt this series could go either way.  One thing in the film that surprised me was how they did in fact go after the grain and farm subsidies and their special interest groups.  They illustrate how grain farmers and companies that have the stronghold in this industry such as Cargill get subsidies when their crops do well and when they fail.  There is really not any disincentive for the grain farmers to convert farmland into vegetable farms.  For the small vegetable farms that exist, there are no incentives at all.  This is why processed pasta is so much cheaper than broccoli. 

By the time I was halfway through the second part, I was ecstatic.  It was as if they went to Hilton Head Health and stole the curriculum.  From the portion control class to the basic concept of calories in vs. calories out, it was right down the middle.  It addressed what I felt it should address!  While watching the first 3, I was scribbling down statistics and notes but lost my paper somewhere between episode 3 and 4.  If I track it down, I will come back out and post some of the notable numbers I found.

Some reviews suggest that the series was a little heavy on scare tactics.  Yes, the series does imply that we are at a very bad place and the impacts to the US and employer’s ability to compete in the global market is at risk because of the rising health care costs.  I like this approach.  The curve of the line over time is moving to a more vertical direction.  The impacts of obesity are beginning to snowball.  We should be scared and concerned.

I only have one main issue with the series.  It tends to be a pattern in the film to blame everyone for the obesity problem in the US.  Blame the soda companies, the junk food companies, etc.  These companies play a role in what we eat and how we are marketed to, no doubt.  I would leave this in the series but they needed to stress that people need to be responsible for what they eat.  In past posts, I came clean.  What I ate was the key driver in my obesity.  Sure, it was marketed to me but the commercial did not shove it in my mouth.  We need to be people that take ownership for where we are whether we are talking about our own health, finance or any other aspect of our life that we have any control over.

If you do not have HBO, you can still watch these films for free online at http://theweightofthenation.hbo.com/  I would encourage you to watch as they were very informative.

They also posted some neat themes and summary level pages at http://theweightofthenation.hbo.com/themes